Hunter Biden Admits His Name Was 'Gold' for Ukrainian Company That Controversially Hired Him
Hunter Biden admitted in an interview that his name was “gold” to Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.
Biden defended his appointment as a director on Burisma’s board while his father was vice president, which has drawn scrutiny in the past, BBC News reported.
However, he acknowledged he “missed … the perception that I would create.”
“I know that it is hard to believe with 20/20 hindsight how I could possibly have missed that,” Biden said.
A report from Republican senators in September found Biden’s role with Burisma was “awkward” and “problematic,” but said there was no evidence U.S. policy toward Ukraine was influenced by his position, according to The Washington Post.
Biden told the BBC the company saw his name “as gold” and it “opened doors that wouldn’t be opened up to other people,” but added it had been “both a privilege and a burden.”
“I don’t belong to an administration. I belong to a family,” he said.
Biden addressed the controversy in his memoir, which was published Tuesday, and said he helped Burisma comply with anti-corruption laws, according to NPR.
“There’s no question my last name was a coveted credential. That has always been the case,” he wrote.
“Do you think if any of the Trump children ever tried to get a job outside their father’s business that his name wouldn’t figure into the calculation? My response has always been to work harder so that my accomplishments stand on their own.”
He added in an interview with CBS News that he was qualified for the position but regretted causing his father political trouble.
“I didn’t fully comprehend the level to which this former administration and people around it would go,” Biden said.
“I don’t want to ever again, to hand a weapon to people that would use it in an illegitimate way that they used the weapon of me against my dad.”
He also addressed the contents of a laptop said to belong to him that was left at a Delaware computer repair shop, which caused political upheaval in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
At least one email published by the New York Post alleged that during his time as vice president in the Obama administration, Joe Biden met with a Ukrainian business official. President Biden has said he was never involved in the business dealings of his son.
The FBI is still working through the information on the laptop because it was not in Hunter Biden’s possession alone before the FBI subpoenaed it, CNN reported.
He told CBS he did not know if the laptop in question was his.
“There could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. It could be that I was hacked. It could be that it was the — that it was Russian intelligence,” Biden said.
“Read the book and you’ll realize I was not keeping tabs on possessions really well for about a four-year period of time.”
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